Adaptive robust tracking of nonlinear systems and with an application to a robotic manipulator

The adaptive robust output tracking for a class of nonlinear systems is considered. Based on the input-output linearization technique and the variable structure control strategy, an adaptive control law is developed so that no prior knowledge of the bounds on the plant uncertainties is required. It is shown that the outputs of the closed loop system asymptotically track the given output trajectories despite the uncertainties, and the tracking errors can be made arbitrarily small. The scheme is then applied to the control of a two degree-of-freedom (DOF) robotic manipulator with unknown payload.